Topic: Nama-tattva

The Ten Offences to the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa

For the holy name to take effect, in the Garuḍa Purāṇa, ten offences to the holy name are listed that must be avoided. One should simply avoid them. It is not difficult. One or two take a little more practice than the others. The last one is the biggest hangup. The first one is the worst of all, but it is very easy to avoid that. So these are the ten offences to be avoided while chanting of the holy name.
Pilgrims at Kumbha Mela

The Greatest Gift - Part 2

We are very far from the Infinite, yet the simple process of chanting His Holy Name, which is non-different from the Lord Himself, allows us to touch His essence, to experience a closeness with Him and His wonderful pastimes.

The Greatest Gift - Part 1

Devotional life or Bhakti-yoga is a science which follows very exact guidelines — which are both very easy to follow and at the same time difficult for many, because their feet may be firmly rooted in material desires and sinful activities. Yet the Holy Name chanted purely will pull them out of the muck and propel them into an eternal life of sat, cit and ananda — an eternal life full of knowledge and great pleasure.

The Maha Mantra

The Gaudiya conception of the maha-mantra is exclusive and stands distinct from all other sampradayas. The Gaudiya conception is exclusive in that it surpasses even the greatest expectations of the Vedas (liberation) and affords one the highest fulfillment of the ultimate goal of life. This is not simply party spirit propaganda or sampradaya jingoism, but an ontological fact.

Meditation Techniques and the Holy Name

There have been some recent discussions about techniques for meditation and controlling the mind while chanting japa [the Holy Name]. It is often said that we are doing mantra meditation, so I was wondering if our acaryas or the sastra have recommended any particular techniques that we can use while doing mantra meditation?

Suddha Nama

The holy name is not a physical sound, but the descent of the spiritual realm through sound vibration- golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-sankirtana. The name is all spiritual-cinmaya. Thus it is beyond material contamination and can connect us to the higher reality.